Port workers continue to strike along the East and Gulf Coast (includes video story)

International Longshoremen Association members continue their strike in ports nationwide from Maine to Texas. The walkout may have significant consequences and disrupt America’s economy in a way that has not been witnessed since 1977.

The standoff with the United States Maritime Alliance threatens to interrupt the flow of goods, including agricultural imports and exports.

“Over $5 billion of wine comes through those ports every year — 70% of our wine imports, most of our wine and whiskey imports, some of our roasted coffee,” said Danny Munch, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Retailers rushed to assemble stock for the holidays. However, if the strike is prolonged, it will delay the processing of goods well into next year, heavily affecting supply chains and increasing costs. 

Sara Mercedes is an International Business Administration senior working toward obtaining a position in a global news organization by integrating the communications and media skills she obtained at CARTA with knowledge from her business degree. Her dream would be to land a job in a destination she has not lived in before, like South Africa or Los Angeles. She spends her free time trying new things, preferably outside her comfort zone, be it a sport or intellectual field.